The Kind That Heals
by SpruceMoose13
Summary: Fire Lord Zuko needs the right kind of help to heal the nation. One budding politician is fast becoming perfect man for the job, but it may not be just the nation he helps heal. He may yet be the Princess Azula's last hope for salvation. Azula/OC
1. A Hard Day's Work

Author's Note: This story has two dedications.

First, to the people on Kataang Forever, who have done so much to help build my confidence so that I had the courage to publish any manner of fiction at all. Special thanks must be given to bombalurima, who was instrumental in helping to bring the character you are about to meet to term.

Second, to DS-Hina of DeviantArt acclaim, whose beautiful piece "ATLA - Reunion" remains a major impact on my ATLA fandom and the major spark that ignited the idea for this story.

Enjoy!

* * *

Kenzo walked down the hall of the palace at full speed, typical for a day in session. If he went any faster he'd have to put a full running arm swing into it. Yet that didn't stop him from noticing a great many things as he made his march to the council chambers, the same march he'd now done many times over during the whirlwind of months since he'd been appointed one of the Fire Lord's newest council members.

He noticed his reflection in the gilded mirrors lining the walls, bright hazel eyes staring back at him. He saw a fairly handsome young man, pale skin and pure, thick black hair typical to his nation. The hair was grown out long enough to be meticulously styled but not quite enough to put in a nobleman's ponytail as Kenzo knew a fashion on its way out when he saw one. His robes were red and gold like those typical to all councilmen. The face he saw was angular and striking, but not altogether unfriendly. It gave off an intense sort of gregariousness. He had paused momentarily to appraise the image, smirked, and continued on his way, not a twitch of motion wasted in the process.

The mirrors were supposed to be symbolic for reflecting upon oneself as one did one's duty to the people or somesuch. He suspected it was all really part of a dowry between the children of the glassmaker and the original architect, but nonetheless, Kenzo was all for duty to the people. He'd been for the people and his nation for years, from the moment he decided to forsake his secondary education and enter the political arena early. He was for them when he made not a single mistake on his civil servant exam. He was still for them when he shot like the fire his nation worshiped right to the top of his village's local government, bringing it to the economic and cultural forefront of the province in the remarkably short process. And he knew he could do so much more for them when Fire Lord Zuko, in a stroke of wisdom belying his own youthfulness, saw fit to purge a slew of Ozai loyalists simultaneously, forcing emergency appointments direct from the Fire Lord as per Fire Nation law.

And what fine choices he had made, in Kenzo's opinion. The most forward thinkers and brightest upcoming leaders in the nation were selected, he among them. For like Zuko, Kenzo was firmly of the opinion that the Fire Nation could do much better with its countless blessings. War, as he saw it, was far too costly. Hoarding technology only to use it to destroy trade partners was economic suicide. Spending so much time on historical glorification was educational tomfoolery. He had to take far too much of his learning into his own hands, with far too many late nights spent in the remote libraries he'd begged his parents to bring him too. Those were the only ones who'd managed to hide some of their most important books of foreign lands from the burnings...

But those days were now from an entirely different era. His confidence in that was unshakable. Between his skills and the Fire Lords' charisma, the old guard would crumble soon enough. The Fire Nation would be more prosperous and powerful than ever before in its history, and the Avatar would not have to worry about "balance" for the rest of his days. Not when world trade would be so facilitated by his nation's groundbreaking new economic policies, just as soon as he secured their passing in the council. He didn't see the point in accounting for their failing.

He'd yet to meet the Avatar, though Kenzo had long made it a priority if he ever had the opportunity. Besides the enviable political connection it would be, he seemed like a rather decent fellow by all accounts. At least from what he'd heard, mostly from Fire Lord Zuko himself.

Kenzo passed a large portrait of the Fire Lord and his wife, the two looking immaculate and perfect aside from Zuko's infamous scar. Though he knew the artist was taking liberties, Kenzo could not say he thought the real life couple was all that different from the portrayal.

Certainly the quiet, loving air captured in the painting was there. He didn't think even his parents had a love quite like theirs. And they were such beautiful people, inside and out. He'd learned of Lady Mai's razor sharp wit early on, and delighted in challenging it. And Fire Lord Zuko's passion was something he admired nearly as much, perhaps even more. Upon arriving to the capitol, Kenzo had planned on fast becoming an essential political ally to the Royal Family, but he never saw the burgeoning friendship he'd found with both of them. Overlapping interests and personality traits were undeniable forces for such a union, though. It had been a rather pleasant surprise in his early career here, both professionally and personally.

Kenzo noticed a stocky man with a fantastically warm presence a few paces ahead of him. He walked over to meet the gentleman, whose gray hairs could not possibly detract from the vibrancy of the man's face.

"General Iroh, always a pleasure my good man!" Kenzo greeted, flashing his well practiced smile, though in genuine fashion for the man.

"General only of my tea leaves, as you well know Kenzo," Iroh replied genially. Kenzo placed his hand on the older man's shoulder and held him at arm's length. He mock appraised him first.

"Hm, I don't know. I'd say you look like you were getting ready for war, impeccable shape as always. I fear I'll never quite catch up with such business as I trouble myself with. Such is life!" Kenzo said jovially.

"All you need is patience, Kenzo. Something I think you may be lacking...and something which you may need in the foreseeable future. So very much like my nephew: so much potential, and so much yet to learn," Iroh noted sagely, his face still wistful but friendly.

"Duly noted, good sir," Kenzo agreed, his tone half stuck in his usual charmer's timbre and half earnest in his agreement. "Is there any particular business that brings you around here? Any assistance I might be able to provide you with?

"No, I'm afraid I'll need to tend to this alone. You are needed with my nephew anyway, I'm told there are great and urgent matters your reputed oration will be needed for," Iroh said, truthfully. "And," he spoke now in a slightly hushed tone, "I am not sure it would be allowed anyway. I am paying my _niece_ a visit again."

Kenzo had trained his sterner poker face as well as his smile, so he locked it in even if he knew the former general could likely still see his reaction. His Adam's apple twitched, he knew that would be the give away.

The reaction was not fear, as one would expect and most would agree with. Kenzo was not afraid of the princess, nor did he hold much ill will toward her, nor did he support calls in the council chambers for her treatment to be abandoned, when Fire Lord Zuko would allow such calls to be tolerated at all. No, he did not care that the treatments were being met with limited success, and he did not care that she was by all accounts another soul lost to her father's greed, and a taker of countless other souls herself. And it was partly because he simply could not judge a person he'd never met, partly because he could not accept the notion that cruelty could not be defeated by the better aspects of human nature, and partly because he saw something in her when he stared at her portrait. Something beyond the cold, foreboding beauty. When he looked hard at what the artist captured, and used all the skill he could muster in reading a person's face as he'd practiced so many times in his career...he saw a flicker of warmth. The same warmth her brother and uncle gave so freely, the warmth that was slowly enveloping Lady Mai when she was near her lover, the warmth he could not see in Ozai but could see a hundred times over in Lady Ursa. He had studied the royal family in painful detail at school after all, Ozai saw to that. And with that warmth, Kenzo could not shake the thought that she might be saved someday, the inkling from his mind that she might feel the joy her brother did. And how much greater would her famous beauty be then, he wondered...

But it was still a distant musing, and one he could not aid. Zuko would not abide visitors not of her medical staff, or not related to her. He would have to pack away that gleam in his eye for now. He nodded and bade the general good bye, and wished him well in his day's work. The two men parted with one more amicable grin and a hearty handshake.

Kenzo continued down the hall to the large, ornate double doors that guarded the threshold into the council chambers. They had never held such pivotal debates, as the future of the nation had never been so fragile in this era of rebuilding. He noticed the one person perpetually unfazed by it all, or so she seemed. Lady Mai was a pillar of strength to her husband and friends, and a joy to spar wits with. Kenzo approached her even more eagerly than his usual flirtations with the noblewomen, sometimes if only for the fun of making his boss squirm.

"Lady Mai, your radiance blinds me such that I should go blind if you were to ever grace us with a real smile!" Kenzo exclaimed bombastically, clasping Mai's hand and bending to his knee as he kissed it ceremoniously. He looked back up with a grin.

"Then I better be careful not to slip up, or else you'd never see my look of _disdain_ toward your charming," Mai wisely deadpanned. Both knew it was all a game, their serious moments had yielded more than a few welcome insights and opinions. Indeed, their rapport had built even faster than that of Zuko and Kenzo. Kenzo thought it was nice to have such an intellectual foil.

"Zuko is already inside, he's even grumpier than usual. Wants to get started to get it over with, I think. You're just barely on time, as usual," Mai said with a smirk, her arms crossing in mock authoritativeness.

"Not a moment too soon or too late, my dear lady! Precision in all things leaves more time and energy for more pleasant matters, like long talks in the tea garden with you and your darling husband. Or perhaps with a pretty lady looking for a suitor, do let your servant girls know I'm without a courtship," Kenzo rattled off, fussing with his robes in a futile attempt to get the look he wanted for today. "Well, I must be going then, I'll have him back to you before nightfall, trust me on that my Lady Mai," he said with a wink and a flourish of his hand, grasping the handle of the door and pulling it open just a crack. Mai simply maintained her reserved smirk and lifted a hand in a semblance of a wave.

Kenzo entered the grand chamber with his head held high and his stride as confident as the one he entered the palace with. The elder men on the council had made it no secret that they would rather he showed more humility with so little experience to his name. Kenzo just told them he was making up for the shame they exuded after having allowed Ozai's reign of terror to go unchecked. The Fire Nation's politics were nothing if not consistently incendiary.

He took his seat on the right side of the room, at Zuko's left hand side. Even he knew it would be a political sin for anyone involved if they tried seating him to the right hand of the Fire Lord. Still, he was but one seat away from being his left hand man, and that was no position to scoff at. Zuko could only spare him a slow nod as he entered, this portion of the proceedings had to be more than a little ceremonious and the Fire Lord was expected to be stoic at this juncture. With Kenzo's arrival, Zuko rose to call the day's business to order.

"I call upon the members of the Fire Lord's council, grant me you wisdom and aid me in guiding our great nation on the path of the sun!" Fire Lord Zuko exclaimed, his voice strong and proud. He took his seat at the throne again. Zuko's right hand man, an experienced but level headed man who simply lacked the political clout to oppose Ozai in the olden days took the roll of the present councilmen and brought about the first order of business.

"Fire Lord Zuko," he began, his voice methodical and refined, "we must reach a consensus on the proposal to begin exporting our machine goods and technology to our fellow nations..."

"Our _rival_ nations," another man said, his steel gray eyes matching the color of his beard. "Peace does not mean favoritism! We are fools if we think it acceptable to hand over our greatest resource! Fire Lord Zuko, you must put an end to talk of this madness at once, we are tempting the fates!" The man was an outspoken supporter of Ozai, now remaining only because of his popularity in a troublesome province.

It was Kenzo who'd brought the proposal to bear in the first place. He had his supporters, though not a majority. It was too controversial for Zuko to move without a clear victor in the debate. So far, the council was inclined to side with whomever won the battle of wits for the day. But never enough to seal the decision.

Many heads nodded. Many eyes were now on Kenzo, waiting for his first move. It was expected that the young politician would break under such pressure soon, he was not deaf to the whispers around the capitol. Not when he saw fit to speak with everyone who made eye contact with him while walking down the street. It was his duty to know his constituents, after all.

Kenzo kept his debate poker face, consisting of a constant smirk, not unlike the face Mai used on him to keep him guessing where her next witticism would come from. It was far easier than keeping a blank scowl. He sat with his back erect at the front of his chair, arms resting on the table and hands holding each other.

"The only fate we are tempting, my esteemed colleague, is utter bankruptcy," he countered. "We have already agreed to pay reparations for the damages caused by our aggression, Fire Lord Zuko's decision on that was absolute." He turned his head to the Fire Lord and gave a short nod before starting again. "To order the guilds to give away their trade secrets is one thing, but to deprive them of selling to foreign customers with perfectly decent gold is the only true madness being spoken in this room!"

"We would be selling away our only true defense! How can we weaken our military advantage when the Avatar is so fully loyal to the Water Tribes upon his marriage?" the old loyalist fired back.

"And we all know our rivals cannot be trusted to make a fair deal, they would no doubt tempt our craftsmen into selling their life's work for next to nothing," another equally opposed but much calmer council member said.

"The merest _trinket_ of steel would fetch a small fortune in Ba Sing Se, I have watched it happen with my own eyes at the ports with the traders, and activity I'm sure you'd both know little of," Kenzo argued, now rising to his feet with one hand still planted to the table. His staunchest ally flicked his long white beard out in front of him before speaking.

"The funds it would generate cannot be questioned, Lizin" he said. "I believe Kenzo's logic is sound, it is time we stopped assuming war is our next step and took advantage of a unique economic opportunity,"

"A unique opportunity to end the greatest nation the world has ever seen, in a rather avoidable folly," replied Lizin.

"An opportunity to make the entire _world_ as strong and prosperous as we envision ourselves to be! A chance to go down in _history_ gentlemen, as the leaders who saw fit to open the gates of _progress_ without blood, with perfect balance and harmony!" Kenzo persisted. They were the same arguments as in other days before, put differently. The Avatar's endorsement of the motion perpetually failed to help the talks, instead it polarized the Avatar's most mistrustful citizens of the Fire Nation.

And so it went for hours, with Fire Lord Zuko asking pointed questions when needed and doing his best not to lose his temper with the growing lack of civility unfolding before him. In the end, the issue was tabled yet again, but several other measures were successfully passed by Kenzo and his like-minded colleagues. Several far more minor decisions were put forth by their enemies and granted, in a typical gesture to allow them to save face. Another day would have to be the one that made history.

Zuko adjourned the meeting before it would be too late for the men to eat with their families, a move that always told Kenzo much about who to trust, and who to assume had not the ability to maintain a semblance of integrity. The men in the former group always looked relieved, and thanked the Fire Lord for his consideration. The latter may have done the same from time to time, but later spoke of it in clandestine talks as a mark of the Fire Lord's hopeless weakness and emotional baggage. Once again, talking to his people was a _solemn_ duty and he made it a point to take it _very_ seriously. The fringe benefits were proving vital at this level of politics.

Kenzo waited for Zuko, always the last one to leave the room by Fire Nation tradition.

"Another hard day's work, eh Zuks'?" Kenzo jibed, having figured out ahead of time that he could get away with the nickname.

"Not long enough for you, I'm sure," Zuko said without bothering to stop and look at his closest political ally. "But you understand, right? It's not worth bickering any longer, I owe that to Mai. We all owe it to our wives, and each other."

"I not only understand it, you know I commend it," Kenzo replied. "I have the utmost confidence we can pass this cleanly, without you risking a political upheaval with the people. They will see a unanimous decision from their council."

Zuko slowed down and looked at his new friend, pursing his lips and exhaling deeply. "I do want to see it happen. I just want the nation to be behind it fully when it begins. We can't risk division within ourselves, I don't want to call upon Aang to solve a civil war for us."

"All wise points, but you sound pessimistic. That's the first obstacle we need to overcome," Kenzo said, the two of them now walking side by side. Zukos hands remained by his side in a natural motion, Kenzo's were gesturing rapidly as he spoke. "The second is to convince you to at least make it known you favor such an initiative going forward. The opposition to your plan of greater unity with the world won't realize we're angling toward compromise as they adjust to stay within the Fire Lord's favor. Just consider it at least," Kenzo finished. Zuko looked pensive.

"For now," Kenzo said as he opened the door for Zuko to the hallway containing The Fire Lord's series of private quarters,"just focus on the missus. Perhaps on the fabrication of an heir with her as well, but only if you romance her properly at dinner. It's better luck if the child is conceived under purely loving circumstances, you know."

"For another time, I think we'd both prefer if you joined us," Zuko said with a smile and a gesture for Kenzo to enter in after him. It wasn't the first time he'd eaten with the royal couple on such an invite, but it was the first it me it was so spur of the moment. Kenzo scrambled to not appear taken aback.

"You are.. certain? Do your wife and uncle approve?" Kenzo asked.

"Uncle has deemed it necessary to eat and spend the entire evening with my sister, and I doubt Mai will have a problem with her less-than-secret admirer coming to dinner," Zuko jabbed with a chuckle.

Kenzo took one hesitant step forward before falling back into his normal gait, into the quarters. He ate well with Mai and Zuko, they shared company they'd come to treasure to take their minds off the trials of the days that had passed, and the days to come. It was an intense, frustrating life, despite the gold and prestige and glamor. It was everything individuals such as them, who valued their friendships and their families, should never have thrived in. But it was the world they knew they had to conquer to keep the world beautiful for their neighbors, and their children, and the generations to come.

At least that's how Kenzo put it when someone asked him why he bothered with it at all. A hard day's work for a chance at a decade's joys for the people of his and every other nation, he'd take the trade every time.


	2. To Help Her

Author's Note: Now that you've met Kenzo, it's time for the what you probably came here for: It's time to bring Azula into the fold.

* * *

The meeting had already been double the expected length, and still going. Kenzo slipped in and out of any effective consciousness, the speaker droning on far longer than needed for a summary of a summary on a point made a hundred times before in other meetings. And a point thoroughly debunked by himself and Zuko, among their other allies. Still, the deadlock persisted. His head lolled forward on his palm.

"And furthermore, it is vital to focus on our nation's glorious history so that it may be repeated!"

Kenzo yawned. He tried to keep an open mind in any debate, but absurdity was absurdity no matter how you doctored it up.

"We would be remiss not to mention the might of the army Ozai created!"

Kenzo sighed. He looked over to Zuko, who was visibly bristling at the comment. He was making remarkable progress in keeping his cool these days, overall. Still, it was times like thse where he was tested to his limits.

"The great Princess Azula should still be considered a hero by this nation!"

Princess Azula. The name broke Kenzo out of his stupor. He'd been hearing Zuko, Mai, and the General stress over her quite a bit lately. Still not getting through to her, and they were out of new approaches from the physicians. Zuko would never outright give up on "saving" his sister, but hope was rapidly diminishing. A lost cause, in the opinion of most of the court.

Kenzo never bought into that idea. He'd never been allowed to meet her himself, but he still harbored that same certainty that she could absolutely be saved from her madness. No matter how many times he studied those same portraits this very educational system he fought to reform had forced him to memorize, he saw that same warmth. That same piece of her mother, that told him beyond a shadow of a doubt that Ozai's influence couldn't possibly be absolute. Perhaps he was simply mad himself. Or perhaps he was the only sane one left, when it came to the matter.

Zuko adjourned the meeting after the councilman finished, tabling the issue until tomorrow. They'd make their rebuttal yet again, perhaps this time with a change in the rhetoric. They couldn't possibly lose this battle with the support they'd gained so far. Still, it would be quite awhile until they won either.

Zuko retreated back home to Mai, while Kenzo returned to his own love. The librarian didn't mind him passing out atop his book selections. Nor did she pay any mind to the fact that each and every one he had pertained to the royal family. Nor did she bother to realize the page he fell upon was a portrait of the mad princess, and the note scrawled out near his hand read "tomorrow, for her future".

* * *

Zuko adjourned this meeting in much the same way as the last. Little progress had been made, but he was grateful for Kenzo's help in staving off an argument focused solely on Zuko's overt affections for Lady Mai. He might have told him as much, if not for Kenzo's completely out-of-character curtness in the greeting that preceded an outlandish request. Zuko recognized it, it was the same as the more cutthroat tactics of his friend that had helped so much in these tenser political battles. He proceeded with caution.

"You want _what_?" he asked, the two of them now walking in a hallway brightly illuminated by the mid-day sun, toward a secluded caucus room. The remainder of the day had been meant for a revising of either side's plans, but it appeared Kenzo had other things on his mind.

"I want to see your sister," Kenzo replied, resolutely. His jaw was tightly set, stance more than a little stiff. He always did do his best to impose himself physically when the opportunity arose, no matter how much he came up short. They stood inside the empty room in silence, Zuko eventually closing the door and pacing back out in front of Kenzo. He mused on the request for a good few moments before answering with a question of his own.

"And why would you want to do that?" he asked, his own face just as steely.

"Because I think I can help her," Kenzo elaborated, simple and blunt in his delivery. He moved not a muscle, rooted firmly to where he stood.

"What could you possibly do that the doctors haven't? That _I_ haven't at this point? You don't even know her, you don't know how dangerous she is!"

"I know that she's capable of terrible things, and that she may also be capable of great things if given a second chance at life. Not so much unlike yourself, oh 'great warrior of the Avatar'" Kenzo countered, somewhat mockingly for effect.

"Azula is _different_, father has affected her more than me! I had Uncle!" Zuko argued, losing his resolve now. His arms swung animatedly.

"A guiding influence, yes. One who knew how to speak to you, who had the patience. I believe I can be the same." Kenzo returned, voice still steady and even.

"How could you say that?" Zuko asked, now starting to show earnest curiosity. Kenzo paused before answering, methodically.

"We share the same driving ambition," he said, as if tip-toeing though a herd of sleeping platypus-bears. "We both understand the deep need for perfection in our work...both demand the best out of ourselves and others. We both share a certain acidity in our tongues..." he continued, adding levity within his last statement. "I know where her mind is coming from, and I know where it's going. I have faced that darkness firsthand," he said, gravely serious. "And so I know what you and your uncle and all the doctors in this world do not...I know how to run right alongside her sprinting mind, and guide it along the path we wish for her,"

Zuko pursed his lips, now frozen in the middle of his pacing. His eyes remained fixed on Kenzo, not wavering an inch. Kenzo waited for his judgment.

"No," Zuko said, letting the word fall unceremoniously from his mouth with its weight. "Family and medical personnel only. I expect you to abide by these rules until I deem she's ready for outsiders."

Kenzo curled his lip, never having been denied so quickly since arriving at the capital. The frustration gave his emotions more hold than he'd ever normally allow, and he could not stop the words that came next. "Yes, best of luck in your exercise in futility. Her wasted soul is on [i]your[/i] hands as much as your father's, now."

Zuko's rage brimmed and overflowed, flames beginning to flicker in his hands.

"_Out_!" he roared, shooting his arm up to point at the door and barely keeping a flame from bursting forth.

Kenzo turned abruptly and left, slamming the door shut. He heard the rush of air bursting from the heat of the flames that hit the structure as soon as it closed behind him.

* * *

The next several days passed by with familiar repetition, save for the suffocating tension between what were supposed to be the two staunchest and most united supporters of the reform.

Lady Mai did her best. She tried to reason with either of them, tried to keep them focused on the matter at hand. She was met with success in that regard; the two continued to maneuver the stalemate as well as could be expected by working off each other' so well. Yet the bitterness remained, both too skilled at holding grudges and too stubborn to concede. The frustration tested even her legendary resolve.

"Why does it matter so much to you, Kenzo?" she droned, twirling a blade in her hands as in she hasn't in too long, seated upon a large rock. Kenzo had stopped to kneel by a pond and pet the newly hatched turtleduck chicks, having agreed to a walk through the gardens with the Fire Lady.

"I told you, and I told _him_. I believe without any doubt that I can [i]help[/i] her. The way no one else has been able to yet." Kenzo didn't bother to look back at her, focusing on the chicks.

"Yes, I _know_ that Kenzo, no one ever doubted your conviction, no one ever does..." she pressed, knowing him better than he realized. "But why does it _matter_ that you help her? What is she to you?"

Kenzo froze, his hand like a statue's hovering just above a chick. It ran to its mother, squawking merrily. "That's actually a good question, I suppose," he answered. He rose to stand and face her. "No surprise coming from you, naturally."

Mai prompted him to continue with nothing more than a peculiar look, letting him know his flattery was no more effective than usual. Kenzo looked down and tapped is foot in a mindless fidget. He looked back up to give his answer.

"I think I see her as a potential inspiration." He let the words hang, trying to gage Mai's reaction. She waited for him to continue, giving nothing away. "Or, I see her as a potential inspiration. We've had so many good people gifted back to us from the dark edges of humanity by the care and patience of others, not the least of which includes your husband, your acrobat friend...and yourself."

Mai nodded a little.

"Doing the same for Azula...would fully confirm what I believe about the best of people. The very same belief that compels me to be idealistic in the first place, and challenge the barriers of the old guard alongside Zuko. So...it's the final proof I need, for myself if nothing else. And one undeniably exciting challenge, if I had the chance." He finished.

"Not a surprise, coming from you, that you want a challenge with some fuzzy, lofty goal," Mai deadpanned, putting the knife away in her sleeve and getting up to continue walking. She stopped at the sound of Kenzo's voice continuing.

"But it's more than that. One more thing."

Mai looked back. He appeared more sheepish, breathing harder as he clenched and unclenched his fists.

"It just...it just seems a shame, a terrible shame, to let such a beautiful and talented girl...who I just _know_ has so much of her mother lurking beneath her surface, somewhere...it just seems such a shame to let her waste away like that. The world is in too short a supply of girls like that to begin with, you of all people should know." He flashed her a grin. She returned only a subdued smirk, better than usual.

"I'll talk to Zuko again...I think he might agree with you more than either of you realize..."

* * *

That night, in the deepest of the royal chambers, Mai did indeed state Kenzo's case to Zuko again.

"It's all fine that Kenzo thinks that, and that's exactly what I want too!" Zuko stated with full exasperation, dressing and undressing for bed.

"Then why won't you let him try?" Mai poked, already laying upon the bed in her gown.

"Because how could he possibly do any of that, when he doesn't know her at all? He'll just get himself killed, or hurt her worse!" Zuko argued, climbing into bed beside her. She reached out to hold his face and train it upon her gaze. Zuko stiled himself immediately at the contact.

"Did you ever stop to think...that maybe that's exactly what she needs?" she asked pointedly. Zuko bended the torches out, letting the moonlight frame his wife's face. It only enhanced her words further.

"What-what do you mean?" he asked.

"An outsider. Maybe that's what she needs, someone totally different from the past that's haunting her." Mai explained, still holding Zuko's face and stroking it gently. "I know you want to protect her, more than anything.," she said softly. "But she won't last long like this...she needs to be brought out of it. If I know her at all still..." Mai trailed off, voice catching in her throat as she momentarily looked away from her husband. "she'll respond to a stranger with a silver tongue like Kenzo as well as anybody, at this point."

Zuko stared at her, reaching up to hold her hand in his own upon his face. He exhaled deeply and slowly. "Okay...I'll-I'll let him try,"

The royal couple held each other close through the night, reassuring one another that they'd be there come whatever may with the princess.

* * *

Kenzo walked through the corridor, confident in his stride. Nearly jovial, jubilant. The guards hid their annoyance well, if they had any. Iroh looked pleased. Zuko did not bother to hide his nervousness. Mai kept her typical restraint. Kenzo thought back to yesterday...

_ "Fine, you win." Zuko had found Kenzo back at the library, hunched over yet another book. That was all he had said to him outside the council chambers since their argument. He nearly flipped over his book in surprise as he looked up._

_ "I win...what?"_

_ "Azula. You may see her tomorrow. But I'm escorting you personally, to monitor the whole visit."_

_ Kenzo tried to subdue his exuberance, succeeding only marginally._

"Remember, nothing too personal. And don't talk about bending. And especially not waterbending, and-"

"I think what my nephew means is, you will do fine as long as you stick to your usual charm with the young ladies, Kenzo," Iroh said, in his typical fatherly manner. He pated Kenzo on the shoulder.

"We're here, sir," one of the guards reported, having arrived at the door of the unmarked cell. It was as deep into the palace prisons as possible, isolated and beyond contained for her own safety as well as others.

"Okay...allow the Councilman in.," Zuko ordered, nerves creeping into his voice. Kenzo gave him a reassuring smile as he passed by through the door the guard had opened for him with a loud clang of a lock falling into place. A look that said 'thank you' as much as anything. The door shut behind him with an ominous thud.

The cell was dark. Only a small hole of light shone through. There were spaces for torches to be placed. A table and two chairs...a Pai Sho board with the remains of a game most assuredly played with the General by the looks of the White Lotus tile's location. Kenzo could make out burns marks all over the padded walls of the cell.

In the darkest corner was a heap of a fairly petite looking girl, back turned to him. She barely looked like she was breathing. He black hair cascaded around her with no rhyme or reason. Kenzo breathed in deeply, wincing at the stench of old burns.

"Hello, Azula," Kenzo greeted, just loud enough to be heard by her in the corner. She stirred. "I'm new, we haven't met yet. She stirred more and began to rise, turning toward him like a creature from a ghost story. He refused to flinch at the sight of her tortured face. "May we sit? I just wanted to get to know you better." He gestured toward the chairs, waiting for her to move first. She shuffled over and dropped her body into the chair, eyes fixed upon him neurotically.

Kenzo slowly moved over to sit in the other chair, which sat extremely low. "My name is Kenzo. I work here at the palace, on the council."

Azula snarled silently.

"I know you probably don't like the council very much. I don't either, often. We don't need to talk about them," Kenzo said with a dismissive wave of his hand. Azula's face subsided.

"I'm more interested in talking about you Azula," he continued, watching her reactions carefully. His own expression was frank but genial. "I've heard a lot about what people are telling you to think, and what people tell [i]me[/i] to think about you..." Azula began to breathe harder. "But I'd rather hear you yourself tell me what's going through your head right now."

Azula locked eyes with him, in the most terrifying way he'd ever experienced. He did not run, nor did he call for Zuko to come in under the signal for duress..

"Failure...insolence..." Azula hissed, voice barely above a whisper. "Nothing but _lies_ and _injustice_! My throne is stolen by weaklings, my world is crushed by a _peasant_! I ought to _die_ and the world should come _with me_!" She finished her statement with a shout and ignited blue flames within her hands. Kenzo remained very still, not calling for help yet. She stared him down with the flames before extinguishing them after several impossibly long moments. Kenzo leaned in and rested his head upon his fist.

"Seems awfully hard to be you, to be truthful," he said, earnestly. "But I think you're making it harder on yourself than it has to be. I see a lot of good in you, I don't think you should die yet."

"And what do _you_ know? You weren't there. You're a coward, one of my brother's slaves! I shouldn't even let you in my presence, you should be _banished_! Away with you!" Azula shrieked.

"I think you're running away from a fight, I didn't expect that," Kenzo pushed. Azula heaved with anger.

"How _dare_ you call me a coward? What fight can you possibly present me?"

"An interesting intellectual one. Whether you are worth saving and you should live, or whether you are beyond hope and should die. I've debated it before." Kenzo postured up and clasped his hands upon the table. "You seem like the type to enjoy a good battle, even if only a battle of the minds. Let's battle it out then, over how much you deserve to live or die."

Azula regarded him with shocked curiosity, relaxing in her seat and posturing her own self as well. "As you wish, council _rat_. I shall crush you with the weight of the truth."

Kenzo gave her a bemused smirk. "I look forward to it, princess."

Later, when Kenzo had finished with her after several hours and twice as long as the record for any one of her previous visitors managing to talk to her, Kenzo would swear that she smirked back, just barely. It was all he needed to immediately request more visits. Zuko reluctantly conceded.

It was, after all, perhaps the best and only remaining way to help her. Kenzo couldn't wait for next time.


	3. Talking I

Author's Note: Here, we can see the early stages of Kenzo an Azula's interactions. Azula is obviously a long way from being well, but the seeds are being planted.

"I don't think you're being very fair," Kenzo said, pensively. He leaned back, rocking softly in his wooden chair. The joints barely held together, it had been rotting in this prison since before he was born. "I don't think you _understand_."

"The only one who isn't understanding is _you_, peasant," Azula countered.

Kenzo leaned a little further, able to see the mold growing on the ceiling. All accusations of the Fire Lord's favoritism in terms of punishment and accommodations were patently false, as far as he could see. "'Peasant' this time? I suppose that's better than, 'worm', though I was beginning to hope that was an affectionate sort of nickname," Kenzo jibed. Azula's flames flickered briefly, her head still cast down.

She made no further statement, but the hissing emanating from her crooked form was making Kenzo nervous. He rocked a bit on the chair legs, trying to appear nonchalant. He heard Azula begin to mutter incoherently, a language of madness only she could understand. His overall feigned indifference to her normal intimidation tactics seemed to agitate her more than any one pointed remark he'd yet made. Kenzo's sweat began to collect at his brow as the room grew warmer. He watched for the onset of blue flames.

He leaned forward, returning the chair to stability. The last thing he wanted was to go too far and ruin their lovely discourse with his own fatality, be it through reckless posture or a line of thought taken too far. Never too far...but still far. Farther than anyone else was willing to take her. It was, as he was discovering, the only way to keep a conversation alive with the disgraced princess, as brazen as it was to play such games with a violent psychopath. She tripped several borders of violent madness and stone cold brokenness; jostling her just enough to keep her somewhere in the middle was a hazardous, sometimes pleasantly exciting challenge for the young politico.

"Then you'll need to explain it to me again, Princess," Kenzo said, leaning across the little table, with a genuinely curious expression. "How is it you can't think of a single purpose for your life, now that your father is defeated?"

Azula sneered from behind her tattered, stringy locks. They gave her the appearance of a malignant ghost, in combination with her worn and formerly white patient robes, her increasingly frail physique, and the eerie, perpetually dark lighting in the room. Kenzo still found himself staring more than he should, he assumed it was because she was such a fascinating image.

"I was his _instrument_," she belted out, through gritted teeth. "I gave every bit of life I had, every second to be his champion. His servant..._his_..."

"Yes, 'his'. In every way, shape and form?" Kenzo asked, with open skepticism.

"Of course! I _devoted_ myself. You wouldn't understand, you just _use_ people, I know your kind _councilman_," Azula spat, venomously. "You know nothing of loyalty."

Kenzo sat upright in his chair, elbows resting on the table and hands clasped together in front of his face. He regarded her briefly, looking her in the eye until she turned her head away and started babbling again, just as before. There was a vulnerability this time, in the pained face she made every so often as her eye twitched. He was certain she wanted to destroy something, and preferably him, with the way her hand clenched and unclenched. The question as to why she didn't would haunt him many a night.

"I have used people, and will continue to do so," Kenzo admitted, his tone frank and even. "That is indeed the crux of my chosen path in life. I use them to achieve ends I sincerely believe will be beneficial for them as well. Perhaps...you believe you did the same." He rose from his chair, and began to slowly plod his way around the table. "But no matter your motivations, you surely can't deny that you have used people as well as any man in that council chamber." Azula remained motionless, sitting sideways in her seat. Kenzo had paused in front of her. He continued his walk, now moving beside her.

"I don't believe you're so opposed to using people. I do believe that you have a problem with _betrayl_. Those you bothered to even recognize as people by letting them into your heart, isn't that right Azula?" Kenzo prodded. Azula shuddered, then made a sharp yelp. Her hands began their spasms again. Kenzo had stopped right behind her chair, keeping his gaze steady in front of him.

"You speak too boldly to dare broach the betrayals _I_ have experienced," Azula sneered.

"Maybe so. I've been accused of boldness beyond my limits before," Kenzo admitted striding back toward the door but not making to leave. He paced around the room, arms crossed. "But I have rarely ever_betrayed_ someone. No matter how frequently I have stood to gain from it already, even in my short career." He looked back at Azula now, now staring at him with frightening intensity. "We all use people. We all hurt each other, eventually. The difference is in how much or how little it bothers us. That is what keeps us from true _betrayal_._" _he finished, quietly. He turned his head away. "Did it bother you, when you yourself betrayed your own flesh and blood? Or when it was Long Feng? Do you think they, who may as well have been your sisters, felt so little?"

Azula flew from her chair, grabbing his shirt with bitterly and rearing her hand back, flames already ignited. Kenzo heard rustling from the guards, no doubt watching intently. He'd already told them not to rush in at a mere threatening such as this. Surely Zuko would not mind him assuring those same guards that the Fire Lord had signed off on such leniency, not unless Kenzo really did get himself killed? He always did like betting on himself, anyway.

Azula's face twitched with raw emotion, the last vestiges of what makeup remained from prior to her imprisonment streaked and running in rivers from too many tears cried. She looked like a bizarre caricature, one made by a rogue opposition artist from the war. He felt far more pity than fear, even with the path to the Spirit World laid before him. He felt far more yearning to just make the pain _go away_ than even that pity. His face remained still, calculating his next move.

"I did what I had to, for _him_," Azula choked out, quivering now.

"Yes, him," Kenzo echoed. "_Him_. Why him?"

"Because..." Azula sputtered, "Because he _loved_ me. Because...because _he_ never betrayed me." Her hand was still raised, but the flame blinked in and out of existence. Her grip on him began to weaken. The patch of skin on his chest that she'd grabbed began to throb with soreness, now that blood was once again returning to it.

"Never. Right up until he used you as his pawn, his beautiful hitman," Kenzo said, softly. His voice grew cold. "Right up until he left you here to take care of stragglers as he ascended that throne built on lies and pain...until he left you with no peace and joy in this world but himself." Kenzo was finally able to pry her hand off with little struggle. Azula looked about ready to shatter her teeth, her jaw was clinched so tightly. The tears began to form.

"It was something. It was _mine_." she croaked, as pained she was losing the battle to will her body not to cry as she was about that which drove her tears in the first place. "What else...what else could I have had? _What_? When even my mother knew I am a monster! At least he could make me _believe_." She collapsed to the ground. "Believe there was hope for monsters..." she sobbed out.

Kenzo stood there, unsure how to proceed. He'd heard the princess was given to breaking like this, when one made any sort of progress with her that didn't end in violence. From all appearances, it was impossible to go any further with this or any other semi-productive conversation, when she shut down and retreated into her tortured mind. Was this why she was considered hopeless?

"So you see, princess," Kenzo pressed on, determined to do what was impossible out of his own inner compulsions, "we are not so different. Not you and me, or anyone in this world. Much less our great fire Nation. We all betray, we do those things which stain our soul from time to time..." He knelled down to the girl, now heaving with sobs."The difference is in how we feel about it, ultimately. And moreover, in _why_ we do it."

He dare not touch her now, the slightest sensation was liable to send her into a fatal rage. He continued to speak.

"Your brother, uncle...sisters. They did it out of love. Your father did it out of _greed_. Which did you choose...and which _will _choose?

Azula cast a bolt of fire into the air above his head, propping herself up on an unsteady arm. "I am incapable of love! Why don't you get that yet? That is why my life has become worthless, you fool!" Her fist dropped limply to the ground. "His acceptance...his glory, his power, that was the closest I could ever come. Power..." Her eyes grew mad as she stared a hole into the floor. "I have always, _must_ always live for _power_..."

Kenzo rose, feeling melancholy. He didn't know how long he just watched her there, stuck on the floor and drowning in her precious lie. "You served him for love, no matter how sickened it was. Because you are still convinced you never had _her_ love, or anyone else's. I will not speak for him," Kenzo began to walk to his seat, "but you, you lived for love. And you are capable of love." He sat in his chair, clasping his hands together in front of him pensively and letting out a troubled sigh. "But you have damned yourself, because you are too afraid of loving again. What a pity..." He breathed heavily, feeling an overwhelming sense of depression encompass him.

Azula suddenly shrieked and threw herself across the table, grasping at him in rage and babbling about his insolence. Sparks shot out of her hands, trying and failing to produce her terrible lightning bolts. The door burst open, Zuko striding in with at least three different guards. They grabbed Kenzo by both arms and hurried him out the door, another guard helping Zuko to restrain Azula with leather bindings. She continued to wail her rage and heartache.

"Please come, councilman. It is no longer safe, the Fire Lord demands it," one of the guards said.

"We'll continue this Azula," Kenzo shouted as he was guided out the door. "Tonight, dream of a new love in this world! That's where your new life will be!" He flashed her a confidant smile as she ceased her shrieking just long enough to make eye contact. In that moment, he saw the warmth from her eyes he had sought for so long, drowning in the violent oceans of her anger and pain.

Zuko had his ear at last, once outside with the door locked well, the guards now resuming their normal duties.

"I told you! She's fragile, and she's dangerous right now!" Zuko scolded. "What were you thinking, making up some kind of permission from me to go that far?"

"I had that perfectly under control," Kenzo replied, coolly. He brushed his robes off.

"This isn't one of your council debates, Kenzo!" Zuko shouted, slamming Kenzo up against the corridor in a manner eerily similar to his sister. No one was there to watch if Zuko wanted to make a point. "She will _kill_ you! Firebending is stronger than words, if you're lucky you'll only end up with _this_!" Zuko pointed to his scar. Kenzo read his face, and saw more furious concern than anything. If one was to be on the receiving end of the Fire Lord's famed "passion" and hot-hotheadedness, it could be worse than to have it be out of concern.

Zuko released him from the wall, both siblings having now imposed their will on Kenzo's slighter frame in one day. Zuko stood there as if awaiting a reply.

"I may be in over my head. Maybe. Perhaps just a little," Kenzo said, maintaining his smoothest politician's voice. He adjusted the cuffs of his sleeves. "But although my words cannot hurt in the manner of the flames you or your sister sling, I still believe I can do more to _heal_. Because words are the only thing that will heal a mind and soul as damaged as her's." Kenzo's eyes were locked with Zuko's, but his head nodded back toward Azula's cell. Zuko nodded in return, solemnly.

"My apologies for the blow. Er...shall we?" Zuko said, gesturing to keep walking back toward the palace. Kenzo began to move.

"No offense taken, Fire Lord. I take it as another challenge, To prove to you how strong words are at healing...and hurting, as well. You desire that I make the one opposed to your immigration law reform weep right there in the chamber, or just enough that he lets it out at home, with the missus?" Kenzo smirked.

"I desire that you show mercy for once, Councilman," Zuko replied, letting out a bemused sigh.

It was out of love for his country that Kenzo used his words to battle his rivals. It was out of love for Kenzo that Zuko slammed him up against stone. It was out of love that Zuko had already caused so very much pain for the Fire Lady Mai and the great General in days gone by...and so it must have been a modicum of some sort of love that made Kenzo so determined to drive Azula to those pained fits of sobs and sorrow, in the frail hope that she would someday emerge from her own mental prison. Love was all that made sense of the human instinct to create pain. He still believed this held true, even for her, even if it could not for her father or his ilk. There was hope for her, if Ozai's lies could ever be supplanted by a new love, a better love...

Such was what Kenzo mused on before drifting to sleep, candle by his bedside already long burned out hours ago, book splayed across his chest.


	4. Winning The Game

Author's Note: If you enjoyed the Kenzo and Azula's interactions last chapter, I hope you'll enjoy seeing a whole lot more of them.

* * *

The cell was lightly padded, that was an improvement from the old one. She'd made progress that surprised everyone, lately. Less tension in her fingers as she gripped the Pai Sho tiles too. That didn't stop her face from making those tight little facial twitches, brow furrowing hard enough to crush a properly placed nut. Her skin had looked better though, must be the stress reduction. Kenzo wanted to take most of the credit for that, but he decided to spare Zuko the embarrassment of having to admit he and Mai were right all along.

"You're over-thinking this, and you know it," Kenzo said to her, his voice syrupy sweet. It was the easiest way to rattle her cage without going _too_ far. He knew the borderlines at this point.

"You're trying to _distract_ me, and _you_ know it, you louse," Azula shot back. Kenzo knew to take many grains of salt when it came to what she said in a competitive mood.

He smiled gently, knowing the effect it had on her. All he had to do was maintain it, that face that might pass as innocent contentment for anyone else. Azula could read it better than the average person, when she glanced up to flash him those amber knives of eyes. She'd catch the tease, and he knew she'd like it all the more deep down because there was nothing more therapeutic for her healing mind than a non-violent challenge. But the payoff wasn't there yet...

He could wait though. It would be a few minutes more before she decided just what to do about that last move he'd made. And he could stare at her face for far longer than he'd dare admit to anyone, including himself. He watched her cheeks intently, their creamy white a vast improvement from the deathly pallor of not long ago. He kept an eye to her finely crafted nose too, and did his best to keep off her lips. That was likely to be a sensory overload, and the treasure he sought wasn't going to be there anyway.

He drummed his fingers on the table, and ceased as soon as he was met with those almond shaped jewels. His gaze and contented facial expression never wavered.

"Have you been _staring_ at me this entire time, Kenzo?" Azula asked, with a voice that had a foreboding presence all its own. It was little to no wonder how she got so many grown men to fall into line back in her wartime days. Luckily, Kenzo was just enough of an impudent boy not to flinch. That actually got him places with her, he found.

"Staring? No, no, never. Wouldn't dream of something so crude," he answered, as if he were a child denying he'd stolen from the cookie jar. Azula maintained perfect eye contact as she placed her tile down.

"Your move, Kenzo," she said, voice now more cajoling and deceptively smooth. He knew a natural when he heard one. He silently wondered how breaking this beautiful mind hadn't been listed as one of Ozai's crimes against the nation.

"Naturally, my dear. Though I must clarify something..." he trailed off, picking up his tile and placing it quickly in accordance with the rules of the particular gambit he was trying. "While I wasn't staring, I _was_ admiring." He punctuated the statement with the same grin he gave his enemies when he knew he had them beat on the council floor.

And there it was, the tint of rose that flushed her cheeks was exactly what he'd been looking for. It was well worth whatever names she'd give him this time. As it would turn out, this time she merely chose to mutter something under her breath as she turned her head and cast a dirty look sideways. He thought might pass as less than "murderous" this time. Perhaps he could report that as an improvement to her doctors?

Azula picked up another tile and began plotting her next move on the board. This is what she needed most of all, challenges. Ways to keep her on her toes that didn't involve true pain and cruelty. And losing, she needed that too, just to learn how to deal with it. He'd heard Zuko's account of the last time she really lost, he didn't know if he could withstand seeing her in such a state. They'd grown too close.

Too close...that's what Zuko said he was afraid of. In Kenzo's opinion they were at a perfect level of familiarity together, in terms of what was good for her recovery. These were the only visits she never once protested, and the only ones she'd ever request additional time for. They were the only ones other than her uncle and brother that were not supervised by guards anymore. And they were such pleasant affairs for the both of them, filled with philosophical debates, battles of wits, games of Pai Sho, all the likes of which neither could really get from anyone else. Neither of them had ever had such an intellectual counterpart...aside from Lady Mai, perhaps. But Lady Mai was likely to brush off any such activity with a competitive edge, while the two of them indulged each other in ways they didn't think possible.

Azula broke him out of his musing with the crisp slap of a tile on the board. She gave him a smug look of confidence, obviously hoping to work her own well practiced methods of getting inside her opponent's head. He had to tap deep into his politician's toolbox not to reveal his secret happiness over her openly displaying such relatively normal reactions without even a hint of flame sparking in her hand anymore.

There were setbacks and risks to this arrangement, of course. She was certainly short on patience during a Pai Sho game, if things turned too badly for her too quickly. And she could snap with her nightmarish violence at any time. Or break down into crippling tears. It was all very difficult to watch what he said at every moment, being a man who preferred to say so much, so freely. But it was becoming easy now, more routine. Getting her to blush was down to a risk free formula, that helped.

Yes, they were perfect where they were. He was a new friend and a fresh start for Azula, practice with having a friend for her, really. And spending time with her was a stimulating exercise for Kenzo. A new friend for him too...a stimulating friend all around. Very stimulating...she was so incredibly fascinating and stimulating inside and out...

"Are you going to make a move or are you ready to surrender, Ken'?" Azula remarked impatiently, her arms crossed but her posture upright and dignified, all an attempt to assert her storied royal composure over a beaten opponent. Her smug arrogance aside, he was glad she'd taken him out of that train of thought.

Kenzo closed his eyes and cast her a tranquil nod of apology. He breathed in deep, then picked up the tile, leaning in and propping himself up on his elbows as he surveyed the board.

"Now how is it you've gotten so much better at this, 'Zula, when I know for a fact that the only other person you'd play with is your uncle, and no one gets any better playing with him. Just more frustrated." He spun the tile around between his fingers. "You haven't been sneaking in other boys to play with have you? Surely you aren't growing bored of me?"

"Oh, don't worry so much Kenzo," she replied with a drawn out purr at the end of his name, feigning that mock consoling voice of hers, like that of a mother comforting a child combined with a disarmingly flirtatious edge. "You're still my _favorite_ Pai Sho partner." She reclined in her seat, face and posture still in alluringly smug control. "I sneak in those other, more handsome boys for my _other_ games."

Kenzo spun the tile through each finger and back, slower this time. He was still contemplating his next move, in more ways than one.

"That is terrifically, _exuberantly_ fantastic my dear. Please do keep them busy, I'm sure they're sore that I've kept the ladies of the court so occupied as of late," he bluffed, with a satisfied grin of his own. He placed the tile down, pleased with his counter in both metagames. Azula huffed insomuch as she'd allow another person to see, and began searching for a new move. Such exchanges inevitably brought him back _there_ again, the place with the strangest set of feelings he'd ever encountered. It was ground he couldn't ever remember treading in his life, no matter how many girls he'd sent into fits of giggles at the many parties he'd frequented since prepubescence.

It was a place he had made it a point to avoid with Azula, up to now. It had already occurred to Kenzo once before that in spite of the "perfect" status of their "relationship", what he wanted might be deviating from what he _should_ want. Such a new dynamic was problematic in so many ways, not the least of which was the overprotective brother, the political weak point he'd create for himself, the danger almost anyone who lived through the war would tell him he'd be crazy for inviting into his life...

The fear. The fear of the unknown was probably the worst, no matter how clichéd and simple that made him feel. Fear that he couldn't really save her, that she was too far gone, that he'd ruin everything through his affections, fear of...l_oving_, and loving too much. For all his boldness, he'd never taken on something quite like the force that had ultimately ended the war that nearly rent the entire world apart at the seams. The beginnings of such notions were scary enough, but to feel them toward the most dangerous-and perhaps most hated-girl in history was nothing short of foolhardy, and he always made it a point to never be a fool. Then again, it might be just like him to do. It always had to be the hard way for him, there was no denying that. He couldn't stop himself from thinking about it. And that very same conflicted thinking, along with the emotions that fueled it, buzzed around in his head uncontrollably.

"You know, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world for you to heal up enough to go out there , and maybe find a nice boy to give affection to..."he trailed off, the statement making her pause stiffly before laying down her tile. They sat still for several moments. He continued with unusual apprehensiveness in his voice.

"Wouldn't be terrible for you to learn about emotions like that, maybe get used to them..." he trailed off again, hoping she wouldn't pick up on his sudden lack of confidence but knowing she was too skilled at reading people for that. She still hadn't moved; she remained hunched over as if frozen in the moment of putting down her tile. All that moved was the steady rise and fall of her chest, and a slight quiver around her mouth. And...he silently prayed to Agni that wasn't a glint of moisture coming out of her eyes. But it was too late, what came next couldn't be stopped from billowing out from within him, no matter how much his head throbbed with trepidation.

"After all..." he paused, trying desperately to bring reason to his next statement such that it wouldn't set her off. He finally settled on his choice of words, and spoke as if each exhalation of sound was a chore.

"...it's what separates your father, who led you and himself to a life of locked cells, from your brother and your old friend, and the Avatar's entire crew, who are now living lives with such joy..."

Azula jerked up from her stillness with fury in her eyes. The room became awash with blue light, now emanating from the azure flames she held in her hands. Her face scowled with what Kenzo thought had to be the most painful rage a human being could muster.

"You know _nothing_ of the difference between us!" she screamed, lashing out her arm and sweeping the Pai Sho board off the table. It flew into the wall with a muffled thud upon the padding, their game smoldering into ruin.

"I know _glory_, I know high _power_! I know the greatest joys of strength while they know nothing but cowardice and weakness, clinging to each other like fools!" She flailed her arms about, firing at every angle but straight ahead at Kenzo. He sat there, immobile, unyielding in a stare even a calm Azula would not be able to read. His hands remained neatly rested upon his lap. Azula continued to assault everything she saw in the room save for what was actually there. Her shrieking voice became shrill and cracked.

"You! You're just _like them_! You think you know me better but you're wrong, you're _wrong_, you're all the same, the same thing, you're all so jealous, you think I'm a _monster_ and a traitor and a madwoman and-" Azula ceased immediately. Kenzo had reached forward and clasped her hand with his own, firmly but not tightly holding it in his grasp. His gaze made eye contact and refused to break under her confused glare. Her other arm was cocked back, ready to strike but unable to, for reasons neither of them fully understood.

"I'm not afraid, Azula." Kenzo said as plainly as he could. "I'm not afraid. I'm not scared".

He gently pulled her down from across the table, never breaking his eye contact. Her eyes began to soften, her mouth began to quiver again. She slowly eased back into her seat, but Kenzo kept a hold of her hand from across the now ruined table. He leaned forward and grasped her hand with both of his own now.

"I'm not running. Not now, and not ever, until you actually prove you are beyond saving by _actually_ firebending me into an eternal silence. Nothing less will do it," Kenzo said softly but with absolute conviction. Azula looked like she was being pulled from every limb by a different emotion, by anger as much as sadness, fear as much as guilt. Kenzo pressed on, not sure if he wanted to send her over the edge again but still not able to call upon the prudence stop himself the way he'd done with so many other, less critical situations. He drew their hands close to his face, resting his nose on them.

"I believe it will never happen that way. I _know_ it. I cannot explain to you how, but I know that your future does not end in you succumbing to your darkness. _Our_ future now, as friends," he paused upon saying the word, the first tears now trickling down her cheek, and the anger nearly gone from her expression, "it will be far greater, if you just _trust_ in what I'm saying to you now. In what everyone who has ever really loved you has been saying to you now. Please...just _trust_ that you are so much more than a great bender in the service of your father, Azula."

Upon him finishing her name, Azula could take no more. She began to sob as she did upon falling to her brother and that water tribe girl, with uncontrollable heaves and strained squeaks of true mental and emotional agony. Her head fell upon the table, her body unable to support herself with her sorrow.

Kenzo took their still clasped hands and tenderly kissed her knuckles, one by one. He did so slowly, with affection unseen in his usual flirtatious hand kissing with the noblewomen throughout the palace. With each kiss, Azula's sobs died down, until they flickered out with the final buss upon her pinkie. When he finished, Kenzo held her hand to his cheek and closed his eyes, trying to take in how it felt when he knew all too well he may never have a moment with her like this again. Then, with more clarity but a body still wracked with emotions too great for her muscles to overcome, she fell out of her chair and half crawled her way around the table to him. She climbed half into his still seated lap and leaned upon him, her free hand reaching up to softly stroke his other cheek. She leaned her head in and rested her it upon his forehead for what seemed like one of those an eternal moments he'd read about I in the great classic love stories, before pushing her hand free and sliding her arms around him for a proper hug. He returned the gesture, head now on her shoulder and leaning against her's as she leaned into him. Their breathing became easy now, and matched in a perfect unison he thought only couples of many years could produce.

He became keenly aware of everything in the room, and everything his memories of the past minutes could feed into his racing mind. The subdued lighting, the smell of padding blackened from her fits of rage from today and many months ago, the way his heart ached when he remembered the rage, the pain...the madness on that beautiful face. The way it beat stronger when he remembered what a vision it was minutes ago, when it was blessed with a smile full of the warmth he swore he could see to Zuko a thousand times since he first gave permission for these visits. But also the way it felt so calmly elated now, with her soft skin pressed up to his, her silky black hair wafting in a sweetly spicy scent into his nose, the strong curves of her back fitting his arms as though sanctioned by Agni.

And that's when he knew. That there was no avoiding or ending this game after all. It had chosen him and it would have him, just like so many participants before him who tried in vain to resist. And so, as would be no surprise to his closest friends, he decided there was nothing left to do but win the game.

They released, Azula now having the strength to stand again. She was subtly shaking. Kenzo stood and thanked her for the Pai Sho, and that he cherished their time together. That he looked forward to the next time, and he couldn't wait to see her smile again, because it was so very precious and special to him. He only succeeded in gaining a shy twitch of the lips, with a meek but uncommonly kind look in her eyes, an almost thankful gleam in her striking amber vision. It would be enough until next time, enough to get him through at least a few more frustrating council deadlocks.

He gave her a full, genuine smile and a shallow bow before turning to leave through the door. He knew she would not dare follow and try to escape at this point. She stood there, watching him, as he walked out with his head still turned back to her, half smiling until he slowly shut the locked door behind him. He wondered how long she'd stay standing like that. He hoped she'd sit before her legs just gave out from under her. Her pain, he now realized, was the most awful thing his prodigious mind could possibly conceive of.

And the only way to assure he would never let such a thing exist, any more than Agni absolutely demanded, was to win the game.


	5. Stay With Me

Author's Note: Things get more interesting...

* * *

The sun, so sacred to the nation, was giving its last precious gifts for the day. It was at that extra intense angle, that prelude to a sunset where the sun felt like it was giving you an hearty parting hug, and a promise to return for an even better day tomorrow. The light made the white concrete glow just a little, and brought the marble pillars to a life unknown to their kind inside the palace walls. The trees growing just off the roofed causeway rustled gently with the cool breeze. The world was, for once, living up to some of the better paintings made in its honor, Kenzo mused to himself.

He was walking down this very path, slowly and leisurely. The world was _indeed_ very beautiful for him at the moment. For hanging on his hand was the loveliest girl in his nation's proud history, in his estimation. And being the scholar that he was, he was certain he was qualified to say so.

Azula held his hand loosely, lazily. As if trying to put on an unaffected air, as if it hardly mattered that she was now permitted to live outside a cell, and go on such walks with a friend. As if she was unmoved by his touch, as if she had held hands with boys on sunny strolls all the time in the old days. The way she had trembled slightly when they first made contact told Kenzo differently.

"Now tell me my dear, what do you think of that pamphlet going around from the fellow calling for your brother's immediate removal?" Kenzo asked, not finding the topic any less suited for such a moment as this than a conversation on the new flowers in the gardens, or the new chef Zuko hired. One had to know their audience, after all.

"The point about Zuzu's obvious contempt for his political opponents is fair, but the rest is pure drivel," Azula said, relaxed and confident in her words. Zuko had told him that was much more like the girl he once knew, but somehow missing that dangerous edge. It was a strange bit of coincidence that she was most often this pleasant when she was around Kenzo, of all people. Kenzo tried not to smirk too much at the observation, Zuko hated it being pointed out that he was wrong about letting Kenzo near her.

"Agreed, but Zuks' can hardly be blamed, there's just no good reason for this hardlining," Kenzo chatted, not noticing the way their hands swayed gently back and forth, as naturally as the Royal Couple themselves. At least that's what Mai said once, with that cursed knowing look of hers. "It's making our jobs that much harder, for no good reason. Even you, Koh's Favorite Advocate, can agree we're trying to push through nothing but the kind of progress anyone can agree with,"

Azula continued to walk on, unfazed. "Be that as it may, one has to maintain their composure at all times, to beat a determined opponent." Her eyes seemed to glaze over a bit. Kenzo knew she was slipping into personal experience with a time she did not follow her own advice, so he kept talking. Keeping her out of her own personal hell was something he never really stopped thinking about these days, always somewhere in the back of his head. He presumed it was a large part of why Zuko was growing more comfortable with their growing relationship.

"That's a fair point, but there are just some things one would think they wouldn't waste their energy on, like this volcano victim aid. At least, they wouldn't if they had some semblance of a heart. "

"And what makes you so sure _I_ have a heart, Kenzo?" Azula sneered, in that teasing drawl of hers. Her eyes half closed, mouth twitched up in a smile that probably terrified more than a few subordinates and even more enemies. Kenzo found it oddly charming, in Azula's own unique way. Perhaps that's why he had the patience to get this close to her, unlike so many others who'd tried unsuccessfully in her past?

Kenzo turned his head to her, flashing his own smirk with a distinct twinkle in his eye. "I know because you let me in on bits and pieces of it, on little excursions like these," he replied, swinging their joined hands a little more. "Excursions you wouldn't keep agreeing to go on with an unimportant civil servant, such as myself, unless you had a heart."

Azula tilted her chin upward and appraised him, the same way she always did when she was gaging how best to counter his banter. He knew she secretly loved it, the battle of wits. It stoked her competitive fire without unleashing the literal, murderous flames. It came as no surprise to see her keep that slowly growing smile as she looked him over, mind buzzing with possible ways to show him up in their little game. Kenzo had long ago stopped trying ignore the flutter in his gut whenever he saw that smile.

"Hmmmm, have you ever considered it might just be letting you get close so I can more easily _strike_?" Azula said, whipping around in front of him and playfully jabbing her finger into his chest. Her eyes locked with his with that incredible intensity of hers, menacing grin flashing at him and body tight to his. He knew he what he was supposed to feel. Scared, hateful, like he had to run to avoid a fate worse than a more simple death. And yet...he knew it wasn't the same as _that_ cruel leer of her past. He imagined that didn't have that same "warmth" he always believed in, since back in the days before he'd ever met her in person. The warmth he saw now, that told him without a shadow of a doubt that she was...playful. Teasing. Like a girl her age should. While still being..._herself_. Her real self, not the one fabricated by her demon of a father.

The girl he was secretly falling for.

Without even realizing it, he wrapped his arms around her in a loose hug. "I thought about it once, but I decided the prospects of discovering your better nature were worth the risk," he said, subconsciously leaning in closer to her face. Her finger crumpled against his chest, straightening out as she pressed her hand flat against him.

"Until you, I didn't know I had a better nature," Azula said, her voice much lower and filled with a great deal more emotion than her previous flirtations. "I'm still learning about it...but...do you still want to keep exploring it with me?" She leaned her head up, ruby lips coming maddeningly close to his own. "I can't guarantee anything, and you know it."

"I know-," Kenzo began to reply, tightening his hug and breathing heaver, "-that I stand by everything I've said. I know that it's worth the risk..."

They were getting closer...

"_You're_ worth the risk..."

Closer still, Azula's lips beginning to part slightly...

"And no matter what happens I'm still _not running_...

Before the last millimeter of distance could be closed and the ecstasy of their first kiss could be realized, Kenzo felt the debilitating pain of an assassin's arrow pierce his calf muscle. He fell to the ground in a heap at Azula's feet, unable to support himself on the leg. Two more arrows, dotting his back, the pain now horrific enough to numb him. He could hear Azula's shriek. It cut through the physical pain to assault him more than any piercing bits of mere metal.

He keeled over at Azula's feet, her hands now supporting his head and wrapped around him protectively. He looked up to see flames bursting from all angles. Some exploded into the pillars, others caught the arrows in midair as Azula used her own bending to intercept them. Yet it wasn't his own rapidly diminishing safety that worried him...

It was that awful, awful look in her eyes. That sound of rage she made. He was losing her to the madness, for something as trivial as his life, of all things...

* * *

Azula had always known this day might come, when Kenzo angered the wrong rival too greatly. When assassins might come for this boy who had shown her such a world outside of her crippling darkness. And yet she still found herself shaking like a weakling fool, the onslaught nearly catching her by surprise enough to cost her his life. She felt horrified, scared, useless again. All the feelings of her time spent chained to that ground, having lost to that waterbender, weeping out her misery. She was burning, taking Kenzo with her, burning down into pathetic ashes...

She reflexively deflected enough of the attacks with her own flames to buy her just enough time. Enough time to remember who she was. Remember what she had to do.

Princess Azula rose from those ashes with a roar.

She remembered her forms so easily. These were second rate benders, hired criminals not worthy of her skills. Certainly not worthy of taking her life and not even worthy enough to so much as _speak _Kenzo's name...she shot forth flames in all directions, igniting the bows with surgical precision. The archers ran in terror, clearly not having expected her to be in any frame of mind to fight back.

The benders attacked without such cowardice, but Azula's cold demeanor was unimpressed. They rushed her, hoping to gain glory by slaying the legendary princess, instead finding themselves in exquisitely painful defeat, Azula's ruthless efficiency being amplified by her rage and anger over this insult, this insidious attempt at robbing her of her light, her one hope, her _heart_...

They group of them began to retreat now, scrambling for the distant trees they must have sprang from. Azula stood, face etched with pure malice. She raised her arm up and began to spark the lightning that would seal their fates...

"_'Zula...no..."_

Azula froze, still as stone. Kenzo's voice was barely more than a agonized whisper, but the hold over her was as strong as ever.

"_Don't...don't give into it...just let them g-__**go**__..."_

She dropped her hand, slowly, shaking all the way. The assassins had retreated into the trees, far outside her line of sight. It was over, and she survived physically.

But would she ever live again if she didn't save Kenzo?

She tried to envision such a world without him, and failed. She tried the whole way as she dragged his now unconscious body back to the palace, just to give her the strength to carry him no matter what.

* * *

Kenzo had never felt so warm in his entire life. Not hot, not at all. Just warm, in a very pure sense. He allowed his eyes to open, slowly. He felt like he could lay here for eternity, but he had quite too much left to do with his life for that. The one that, from his last memory, he'd nearly lost at the hands of his first assassination attempt. He felt simultaneously proud at surviving it and horrified, the way he knew he was supposed to feel.

He saw subdued lighting. Dimly lit torches, typical for the most critical healing rooms. He tried to lift his neck to see what else was there, but even that slight engagement of his back muscles was agony. He let his head lay limp instead. His eyes tried to train themselves downward, able to make out a lump of shiny black heaped upon his abdomen. Now that he realized it, he _felt _a heap of something there, too. Soft, warm like the rest of him. As if that warmth he felt was radiating from it.

The lump of black moved slowly, gently. He felt what had to be breath upon him now, heard a soft grumble. Heard his name being said in that familiar, drawling voice. If he hadn't been so groggy from his injuries and whatever herbs they'd given him, he wouldn't have taken so long to realize why the lump felt so familiar and comforting.

He saw Azula's head rise and turn to face him, looking exhausted and severely tear-stained. But still as beautiful as ever to him. He still couldn't fathom why she never ceased to look any less beautiful, just different. Sometimes in a painful way, like when she cried. But still always beautiful to him. He knew he had to be unique in that regard at a time like this, with her makeup smeared all over her face and her expression as sullen as it was. Rapidly, it was shifting into overwhelmed relief.

"You're awake," she pointed out, redundantly. As if trying to affirm it to herself.

"Yes, that or passed on to a very familiar looking Spirit World." His voice felt fine, throat was just a little dry.

Azula's face scrunched in frustration, almost angry. All her obviously pent up emotions were now coming to a head. "Don't you play your ridiculous jokes with _me_, Kenzo! I nearly lost you, you nearly _died_, in my own arms!"

"No place I'd rather die, you know," he chirped, cutting her off. He couldn't help it, and it was the best way to keep her from going overboard.

"That's not the point! I don't need to hear your usual silliness, I need to hear you tell me you're okay! I need to hear you be serious with me, I need, need-"

"Consolation? Reassurance?" He tried reaching, the pain let him extend his arm out just enough to grab one of her hands as it lay balled up in a fist on his belly. "Maybe...a comforting touch?"

She visibly stilled and relaxed some of her tension. He gently squeezed her hand. They remained that way, very still, for one of those minutes that seemed like it's own little eternity. Kenzo spoke first, whisper soft. "I'm here, Azula, I'm not going anywhere, or else there'd be doctors surrounding me, yes?"

"Katara," Azula said dully.

"Come again?"

"Katara healed you. The Palace surgeons could only keep you together long enough for her to get here, you would've bled out without her...," Azula trailed off.

"Ah, yes. I remember now. Zuko had called in the Avatar to speak for our side of the debate."

"You're lucky they were already nearly here. You're lucky that..._she_ saved you, did what I couldn't..." Azula spat, bitter and visibly hurt. "She succeeded where I failed _again_..."Her eyes began to glisten with tears. His heart broke, he would be having none of this.

"Azula," he said sternly, "you can't possibly be forgetting that it must have been _you_ that fought of the beasts, _you_ who dragged me back here, and _you_ who by all accounts must have been sitting here the entire time I was unconscious." She tilted her head back up to make eye contact. His gaze was as sharp as hers, if not more so. "I'm correct, aren't I?"

"Almost a full day," she answered, voice still choked a bit. "Zuko has been a nuisance trying to get me to go outside and get some air, but someone had to make sure the job wasn't..._finished_." Her voice was little more than a croak on the last word, like something she had to vomit.

Kenzo's face softened. "Thank you, really," he said tenderly. "That's...another way I know for certain...that you have a heart."

Azula's eyes wandered off into a far wall, perhaps lost in some swirling thought at his words. "You're the only heart I have..." She held his hand just a little tighter.

Kenzo's breath nearly left him completely. He wasn't certain she even realized she let those words slip outside her head. He let the silence hang, feeling as though this was one of those moments he may look back on as pivotal for the rest of his life. Finally, he broke the silence, no longer able to bear the tension.

"Just...just what do you mean by that, 'Zula?" he asked, more hesitant than he'd ever sounded in his life.

Azula bit her lip, uncharacteristically shy herself. He certainly didn't mind the adorable blush, but there were bigger fish to fry for the moment. "I just mean...you're _important_, to me. Right now." It was rare she struggled to find the words like this. He knew it had to be sincere. More importantly, he knew that it had to be significant, whatever she was saying.

"You mean, you...like me?" Kenzo pressed.

"I mean that I enjoy your company and-that I like you around, and...I don't even know," she finished, in simple frustration. "I just want you to...I want you to _stay_."

Kenzo could almost taste what was coming, but he had to know for sure. "Stay _where_, 'Zula? I'm not sure I quite understand..."

"Stay with me, fool!" she yelled, her frustration bubbling over to reveal her true meaning. "I feel _better_ with you around, I feel like a whole person again, like what _mother_ wanted me to be! I feel that happiness Zuko and Uncle _promised_ back when they were begging me not to fight them as I destroyed my cell like a madwoman...I want you _stay with me_ so I-so _we_ can be happy, together...if you want that, if you feel happy about it too..." Azula started the tirade with a confident bellow and finished with a meek whine. Like a shy school girl, from the adolescence she was robbed of. Kenzo's heart felt full at last, perhaps for the first time in his life. Or at least since that momentous game of Pai Sho when he realized he needed to win this game.

He needed to make a winning move, right here and now.

"Azula," he began, shifting to snake an arm around her. The pain was mysteriously lessened significantly. "I don't know how to impress this upon you, if I haven't yet already. But you _do _make me happy too, very much so." He paused to choose his next words carefully. And, I want more than anything else in the world to _stay with you_, and be happy with you, together. For as long as the spirits allow..." He wished he could lean in to her, but his injured back wouldn't let him.

He was overjoyed to find her leaning in for him. She wrapped her own arms around him carefully, as gently as she'd ever been in her life, perhaps. Gentler than most people in the world would have ever thought possible from the terrible Princess Azula. She couldn't stop drifting in toward him.

She stopped right before his lips, her breath tickling and teasing him as she spoke a whisper that carried the weight of her entire heart and soul.

"_Kenzo_...is this...what love is?"

His heart began to hurt with love for her. He knew the answer, and he knew how to speak her language. "It is, if you _let it_, Azula. If you _trust_] in me to love you, and in yourself to truly love me back...then it's the love we've all been wishing for you." He reached up and stroked her hair. "The one that _heals_." Their faces came closer still. "The one...I think I feel for you now..."

Azula sealed her promise to trust, and to let love overcome her, with a kiss that was at once both sweetly tender and firmly passionate, just like Azula herself. Kenzo let himself sink into it, kissing her back with equal measure, his lips melding with hers as naturally as if Agni had created one for the other. The need for air overtook them, forcing them to finish their promise but not separating their contact. They remained that way for many seconds after, letting their lips brush against each other and gently nuzzling with their noses.

"I think...I'll have to concede to every one of your points Kenzo," she whispered against his mouth, in the same manner as their playful arguments. She began to smile again, warm and sincere. The way he knew her mother did. "And I'll have to confess to feeling...the same way..."

"I can certainly see that, my dear 'Zula," he teased, pecking her on the lips once more. "And I shall fear no man, woman, or group who tries to get in our way. I'm going to stay with you, and I know you'll stay with me," he said, voice heavy with sincerity. Azula's eyes welled again, now with tears of a blessedly different nature. "And I have every faith you'll defeat anyone who tries to say otherwise. I'll handle the more nosy talking heads of the court, naturally," he quipped. She smiled big and wide now, lighting the room with her radiance.

The door swung open, the Fire Lord and his Lady walking in. Azula jumped back to her seat in a flash, still holding Kenzo's hand.

"Kenzo, what are you doing sitting up! You need to be getting your rest!" Zuko shouted upon seeing Kenzo's half raised position. Kenzo leaned back slowly, his muscles forgiving him no less now that he was lowering himself. He never let go of Azula's hand.

"Overjoyed to see you awake too, Zuko. I trust you weren't just in a day long coma, though?" he joked. Zuko scowled.

"Don't be such a bad sport, Zuko, you could've at least said 'You're alive' when you walked in the door," Mai droned, giving her husband a scolding eye. She looked back at Kenzo kindly. "It's good to see you're alright."

"Yes, Mai is right _as usual_," Zuko conceded, smiling at his beloved. "If not for our friends, we might nearly have lost you for good."

"So I've heard from 'Zula, I'm as lucky as ever," he said cheerily, squeezing Azula's hand at the word "lucky". "The family will be quite proud to hear I made it through my first assassination attempt with flying colors,"

"Speaking of which, we have much to talk about regarding your attackers," Zuko said, darkly. "It seems the hit was ordered from inside these palace walls..." Mai rolled her eyes.

"I'm not sure why you're still so surprised at that, Zuko. We all knew Kenzo's oratory had gained some powerful enemies. It was only a matter of time. We should just be thankful Azula's been such a good friend, to all of us. But Kenzo especially," Mai said, smirking at Azula. The princess had been remarkably quiet, and perhaps...embarrassed by the couple walking in? She was clearly blushing now, at Mai's comment...

"Yes, thank you again sister. From the bottom of all our hearts," Zuko added.

"And my back!" Kenzo quipped. "Among others parts..." He winked at her. Azula's blush deepened, her eyes sneering at him for the extra attention. He knew he'd pay after, yet he somehow didn't care.

"It was the least I could do, of course," Azula said, hoping to allay the attention.

"Yes, but-sister, are you alright?" Zuko asked, obviously concerned. "You're so red...are you sure you weren't injured more seriously?"

"I-I'm fine," Azula stammered.

"But...your lips are swollen. Did they poison you?" Zuko said, now panicking.

"Calm _down_ Zuko, Katara looked her over. She would have found something and you know it," Mai said, pulling her husband back. "Let's give Kenzo his rest now, you two can talk later..."

"But Mai-well, fine. I suppose he does need his rest. Uncle is always going on about a 'man needing his rest'. Let's go Azula." Zuko gestured for her to follow, but she looked conflicted. As if glued to her chair by Kenzo's bedside.

"I think Azula may as well stay here, _with_ Kenzo, like she's already been doing," Mai said, pointedly. She shot a knowing look back at the new couple as she marched Zuko out of the room.

"But Mai, what did you say about-"

"Pleasant _dreams_ Kenzo, and...congratulations," Mai smirked as she closed the door behind her. Both Kenzo and Azula now blushed at the comment. Neither knew what to do with themselves.

"For the life of me...I will never know how that woman does it," Kenzo marveled.

"Or how Zuko has such atrocious timing," Azula added. "But...that doesn't change anything from before, now does it?"

"I should hope not, my dear," Kenzo grinned. He pulled Azula over to him, indulging another sweet kiss before letting her climb up onto the bed to curl in beside him. They both wrapped their arms around each other, protectively. Each protecting the other from their own unique threats and demons, as they always would. Several more kisses upon the head later, they offered their parting words to one another before their peaceful dreams of their future as one.

"I love you, Kenzo. And I'll be here for you always, so no one ever hurts you like that again."

"I love you too, Azula. I'll be here for you always, so you never have to go back to that darkness again."

And thus was how they swore to always stay with the other, and thus was how the Fire Nation healed another wound.


	6. Who's Coming To Breakfast

Author's Note: What happens is and isn't canon in this chapter is, in the end, entirely up to _you_, dear reader.

* * *

It was a bright and clear morning, typical for a Fire Nation summer. The sunlight, so sacred to the people of the land, billowed in from windows that spanned from floor to high ceiling. The Fire Lord had put them in just for this purpose, so that he could bathe in the light with his wife and soon to be children for the one meal he could make certain they shared these days. Things had become as hectic as he'd feared the day he was crowned.

But it wasn't so bad when he could start the day like _this_. His precious wife seated across from him and looking radiant as always. The sheen of Mai's black tresses was more beautiful than any of the gilded architecture surrounding them. She drank only a cup of tea for breakfast, her stomach not yet accustomed to a hearty meal this soon after waking, even with eating for two.

It was an exceedingly peaceful, pleasant start to breakfast. The royal couple spoke little, only hushed whispers of affections and greetings when needed. The rest was done with loving glances and gentle touches. They'd always made sure such meals were private, there would be plenty of hustle and far too much talking to do later in the day. The stream of legislation and initiatives needing the Fire Lord's opinion was endless. These were fragile days now, days that would determine the longevity of the reign of Fire Lord Zuko. Mai would not let him leave the counsel chambers early to return to her side even if he tried, not with such hotly contested matters between Zuko's de facto "party" and his father's apologists.

It was because of this that Zuko had invited Kenzo to stay at the palace for a time, as he'd done more than once now when the counsel became overwhelming. Having his top political ally at such proximity was more than useful, and having a loyal friend nearby was never a burden. Zuko knew he could trust someone who'd stuck to so many would-be career ending political stances, even with his sometimes questionable effervescence. It didn't hurt that he'd won over his wife, either...and seemingly won over his sister.

_ That_ was still something he needed to digest. No one was more overjoyed than him over her current recovery, but it was also true that no one knew the emotional dangers of young love better than him either. Kenzo's affections were never in doubt no matter how much he liked to work his charm with every girl he met, and his role in saving her from her madness could not be overstated. Still, he couldn't help but be nervous over the potential disaster that might loom if things took a turn for the worse...

The young man in question interrupted his thoughts when he entered the room at his usual brisk pace. He looked well put together as always, being a man who knew the importance of appearance in his livelihood. But he was impeccably groomed and dressed...in his sleep robes. That was unusual. He hardly ever let anyone see him without his meticulously tailored formal robes. Burgandy silk and gold trim, but smelling entirely more feminine than normal. And he was grinning, the sharp angles of his face forcing the expression to become something pleasant but not quite warm. It was like the refreshing chill of a clear blue ocean on a hot day, those Kenzo smiles. Nice, just not in the style of someone like his uncle. Of course, Kenzo smiling was not uncommon. But why the exaggerated arm swing?

Zuko wondered why his euphoric grogginess from his perfect morning was slowly, subtly slipping into dread.

"Best of all possible mornings to you, Lady Mai!" he greeted, kneeling to kiss her hand as per his usual habit. Mai simply turned her head to acknowledge him with a ghost of a smirk before returning to her tea.

"And a pretty decent one to you, my good man," he said, flashing Zuko another smile with a friendly nod and a tongue-in-cheek fist pump. He took a seat next to Mai, reaching for a plate. He began loading it up with food, but not with his usual favorites. How many times had Kenzo given anyone who'd listen a diatribe on how much he disliked cherries? If Zuko didn't know better, he'd say it was a menu befitting a princess. One he happened to know.

The dread creeped a little further.

"Kenzo," Zuko started, drawing out the name to make sure he had his friend's attention. He had begun humming, and he only did that to get Zuko's nerves or draw Mai into a battle of witty retorts.

"Aren't you going to have any of your usual? We have another long day. You'll need your strength," Zuko said.

"Strength? Why of course Zuks', I'm strong as a hippo-ox. Strong enough to go all day. And all night! Isn't that something, Mai?" Kenzo replied, still jovial. Mai seemingly ignored him, her barely audible sigh giving her away.

Zuko's dread had now grown enough to cloud his mind. He made the mistake of not saying something before Kenzo noticed he'd had an effect. Kenzo sneered.

"Yes, it _is_ really something. And you know what else is something? These fantastic mangoes from those southern Earth Kingdom islands, the ones we used to have colonies on. We'll be getting ships so stuffed with them, they'll be in danger of sinking once we pass that trade agreement! Like I keep telling you, just keep promising you'll tax the ports high enough to line the coffers with solid gold, and the old farts will shut up soon enough. The people will be lining up to pay a fortune for them no matter what they have to pay, and they have plenty to spend since we got the sale of our technology legalized. It all falls into place, with an economy this good the Avatar can sit back and breed all day long like we all know he really wants," Kenzo prattled. Hearing him lecture about a political move would have comforted Zuko with its normalcy if he hadn't decided to end it with images of Aang and Katara _breeding_. That would be like imagining his sis-

Oh, that crafty _louse_.

"Kenzo," Zuko grumbled, the calm he'd grown much better at keeping since his youth starting to wither.

"He likes my name, doesn't he Mai?" Kenzo interrupted before Zuko could say more. Now he was filling a second plate with his normal selections. "I think he should say yours more, yours is much prettier."

"It's rare of you to call someone prettier than yourself, Ken," Mai said, glancing at him with partially squinted eyes. "Is there any particular reason for the occasion?"

"Nothing of the sort, Mai, just a continuing appreciation of our nation's ever so beautiful women. Speaking of which..." he trailed off and his face lit up. A sleepy young beauty yawned as she sauntered into the room, her silk robes clinging to her curves as she stretched out in the warmth of a shimmering sunbeam.

The cream Kenzo was spooning onto his plate plopped onto the table, his head transfixed in the direction of the newcomer. The young woman continued her walk to the table, a drowsy and content expression lining her face. She leaned in to give the seated politician a lazy hug.

"You were taking too long, I knew you must have been chatting it up with Zuzu. Typical," she said, with affection rather than malice. She kissed his cheek before pulling up her own chair, close to his side. Very close.

Very, exceedingly, and perhaps alarmingly close for Zuko's taste.

"And a lovely morning to you too, my dear," Kenzo said warmly.

"Good Morning Azula" Mai droned kindly before sipping her tea.

Kenzo maintained a conservative smirk as he stared at Azula, now picking up one of the cherries on her plate.

"Greetings Mai, Zuko" Azula said. She bit in.

"You look like you slept well, sister," Zuko said, not sure if he really wanted to get to the bottom of things or not.

"I'm feeling well, Zuko. Better than I have in a long time," Azula replied. Appropriately vague.

"I'd say you look as though you _dreamed_ well, my dear. You wouldn't mind sharing with Zuks', would you? You know how grumpy he gets," Kenzo said, putting his arm around her shoulders and kissing the top of her head.

"That depends quite a bit on the kind of dream, Kenzo. I don't really think I'm in the mood for anything _crazy_, with such an important day ahead," Zuko countered.

Kenzo wasn't fazed. "Well of course it depends, everything depends on something in this world friend, especially regarding sleep! For instance, you depend on the smell of Lady Mai's hair smooshed up to your nose to go to sleep every night, isn't that right Mai?"

"_Mai_!" Zuko yelped.

"He beat me at Pai Sho, what do you want me say? It probably won't happen again" Mai responded.

"I don't blame you Zuko, I sure find it easier to sleep with something soft and comforting cradled in my arms. Girls _are_ soft, aren't they Zuks'?" Kenzo continued, that sneer returning again.

"I think you'd enjoy it more if _you_ were the one cradled by the softness, Kenzo," Azula drawled.

"Ah, in that case..." Kenzo paused to look directly at Zuko, his smile back to a well practiced innocence.

"I'm not sure how much actual sleeping I'd get done."

Zuko had heard enough. He slammed the table with both hands and rose to stand.

"Are you saying you two have already slept together?"he bellowed, his voice cracking slightly at the end.

"If you must ask, yes. There was sleeping in very close quarters involved," Azula answered.

"What activities led to this are a couple's proprietary secret to dispense at their own discretion," Kenzo added.

"I am your brother! And your boss!" Zuko pointed at the two of them in turn, caught between a disposition of intimidating passion and undignified fluster. "I think I have a right to know exactly what you are doing in the quarter's of my palace!"

"Sit down Zuko,"

"But Mai-"

"_Sit down_ Zuko," Mai demanded.

She put her tea down on the saucer and cast her amber gaze around the table. Mai's presence had brought reason to more than a few heated debates in the chambers. Both Zuko and Kenzo knew better than to press now.

"Zuko, you've known about them for long enough now, you gave your blessing. You of all people can't expect them to just keep their hands off each other in their first real relationship like this."

Zuko opened his mouth as if to reply, but closed it again, nodding slowly. She was right, as usual.

"And _you two_," Mai said as she turned to face the couple next to her. "You would both do well not to flaunt it, some people in this palace may not take to it as well as those who know you better," she said. It was a loaded statement that could have been directed at either Kenzo or Azula at this point, and most likely meant for both.

"Now please try and concentrate, you boys have a long day ahead of you and you'll need each other a lot more than you need to bicker," Mai finished. She returned to sipping her tea.

Kenzo's smile now shifted to a relaxed, more genuine one. The one that meant he was ready to get down to the more important business of the day, his cheekier urges sated. Azula rolled her eyes but bit her tongue, she'd been told many times by her doctor to practice this as much as possible from now on to keep her temper in check. Only her closest friends and family had so far been lucky enough to see it.

"As you wish, and right away Lady Mai, not a moment too soon or too late," Kenzo said. He gave Azula a quick kiss and a sweet nothing in her ear, then stood to leave the room. Zuko followed suit with his wife, pressing his cheek to her small but quickly growing bump on her belly before making his reluctant leave. The two women began chatting about the baby.

"Ready for more fireworks then, Zuks'?" Kenzo asked as they walked back toward the palace quarters to change into their formal robes.

"Ready to get it over with, Kenzo," Zuko replied in earnest.

"Well, that's not "the spirit" but it'll do," Kenzo chuckled, gently slapping his partner on the back. "No hard feelings, eh? I know I've mostly been out to bring levity to this morning's proceedings at your expense so far, but you do know how much I care about your sister...and you...and whole burgeoning family, right? I'd never want to do anything that rocked the boat too richly for your blood" Kenzo asked sincerely. They both decided to stop where they stood.

Zuko audibly exhaled and gave him a slow smile as he loked him in the eye, his own eyes gentler than Kenzo expected.

"I know. Thanks again for bringing back the best parts of her," Zuko said softly. A perceptive person would have noticed a tension that had been building in Kenzo's upper back with each step of this walk suddenly release itself. That was enough to satisfy Zuko. He began walking again, with Kenzo following close behind on his right.

"Just remember," Zuko added. "Certain relations out of wedlock with a princess of the Fire Nation is punishable by the Fire Lord's choice of _death_, or castration. If your visits with my sister were or will be anything of the sort...you should know I already have my choice and I'm not sharing." His tone remained as though he were admiring the nice weather with his friend.

Kenzo never let on what he did or did not do that previous night, but Zuko found it amusing to strike down his subsequent proposal to amend a few time honored laws regarding the preservation of the royal family's virtue.


	7. Something To Come Home To

She didn't like any part of this. Not the chill autumn air, not the feeling of unforgiving steel under her fingers, not the tug at her heartstrings that she stillcouldn't relive. She'd been traveling on this mission for a little over a week now, and no matter how single minded her focus was, nothing could make the distractions go away.

Azula shifted her weight atop the dull, grey stone she'd set herself upon. She recalled how furious she would have been, in her younger days, if anyone under her command so much as thought about contemplating home and _resting_. She was relieved to find that she most certainly didn't feel herself growing soft enough to lose her edge; the soldiers she'd met so far would attest to it if their comrades ever managed to wake them up. She was even holding back, trying to keep her hands clean of blood just like he made her promise, with a wink and a kiss and a wicked twinkle in his eye…him…

Azula hissed forth a frustrated grunt, sighing at the thought. She pulled out a clean white linen cloth and began to polish her blade. It was borrowed at random from an Earth Kingdom armory, purposely inconspicuous but enough of a weapon to do the job. There was precious little time to prepare anyway, the mission was a hurried ploy from the minds of her brother and that Water Tribe boy. The one she'd grown to love and hate as simultaneously as she did with her brother -dear. The Avatar was too preoccupied with his own efforts in stifling this rapidly escalating war to be present when the decisions were made, else he might have protested. No matter, she would have gone anyway. She was the only one who volunteered for what might have been a suicide mission for anyone else. Not for her though, _no such thing_ for Azula, Crown Princess of the Fire Nation.

Because she promised him that too. That she'd come home.

Her caressing of the blade became slower now, more absent-minded. It began to mimic that of the stroke she placed on the head of that boy, really a man. She ought to pay him that respect. She'd taken this mission for so many reasons, not the least of which was to do some good, do some form of penance to fill a history of sins she knew she may never fully cleanse. And to earn some trust, some respect from those she hurt so that they would not sneer at her loved ones when she was in their presence. Neither Zuko nor Kenzo deserved such hostile council chambers.

But there was so much at _stake_, diving headlong into this kind of danger. Why had she not realized it earlier? Even with her meticulous planning, even with her formidable skills, going rogue into enemy territory was terrifying all of a sudden. It never bothered her before, not even when she was chasing down the Avatar and his entire motley crew of warriors (admittedly only now, all these years later and free of teenage bravado). The fact that the feeling existed at all was somehow the worst part.

Her eyes drifted off to a distant point in the sky as her hands paused and rested upon her blade. Clouds sailed lazily across an entirely too peaceful blue sky. These were the kinds of days where he'd take her walking, just to show her how beautiful the world was. Just so that she'd see a point in living in it again. And it had worked, it had worked beyond either of their wildest hopes and dreams.

_That_ was it, wasn't it? That was the difference. Now that there was a _boy_, the mighty Azula was a tittering damsel, all alone in the woods and pining for all one hundred-forty pounds of her man to come and save her? Perhaps talk her out of danger? She could feel her fingers grow hot with the burgeoning flames of anger at her own self.

_No…_ she thought, _it's more than that_. It was a home. It was a place to come _back_ to. It was a "next chapter" in her story, one that she couldn't bear not to read. It was…a reason to come out alive, both for herself and for the man who'd told her he'd love her until the spirits themselves died off and time stopped in its tracks. How could she leave him alone by getting herself killed?

Azula thought of every kiss, every hug, every shared laugh and muffled sob into each other's shoulders. She thought of waking up mornings, wrapped in his arms as the sun blessed their union with warm rays of promises yet to come. She thought of cool nights by the fountain, looking at her reflection and finally seeing a beautiful girl her mother once told her about. The one she had once thought couldn't possibly exist outside of a lie.

Kenzo, her brother, and all the rest of them had brought her all that, and she could take it all away if she didn't come back. It was why, as she mused, her brother and his old cohorts hesitated so foolishly before there was business to be done. It was why her new family fought so hard to come back, why they were always so incredibly determined to win all the time when they would seem to have no chance. And it was why they actually felt like a family. Why…no, she told herself. It was not the time for that. Leave it in the back of your head, at all times and in everything you do, but it was definitely not the time for thoughts of _that._

Azula pulled herself up from the rock and stowed away the cloth. She sheathed her sword in its scabbard and slung it across her back. There were many miles more for her to cross before she could think of such things. Still, before she could bury her forbidden thoughts in her mind's farthest recesses, a single tear escaped her as she walked once more into the brisk, frigid wind. The breeze blew the tear off into the brown, crinkled leaves below, nothing but a wet trail in its wake to naggingly remind her why she absolutely had to come back along this very same trail as soon as she could. She didn't notice her hand had drifted protectively over her stomach until it was already there.

The chill of the moist trail reminded her that she hadn't told Kenzo yet that in six months time, they'd have one more precious reason to come back from their journeys. One he could cherish and hold, and softly sing to sleep in that sweetly terrible voice of his, the same way he did for her not so long ago in the middle of a blackened asylum cell. She wondered if it would have even been wise to have told him about the beautiful future they had at stake, with the start of a family all their own…

The tear trail lingered on straight through the day, fading only when she had finally laid down her weary head to sleep. It soaked into the pillow, reminding her to the very moment the dreams came of why she had to wake up and move quickly come morning.

She didn't wipe it away. She wanted to feel that incredible ache, that told her she had every reason to want to come home alive this time. For once, she had something to come home to.


End file.
